When Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson arrived at Qualcomm Stadium about 2½ hours before his team kicked off (and kicked butt) against the Philadelphia Eagles, he found a shoebox-sized purple bag at his locker. A note to "open immediately" was stuck on the side. A box was inside; certainly a good-luck trinket.

Inside the box wasn't the necklace or bracelet he expected. It was a pregnancy test. It read positive.

His wife, LaTorsha, had just presented him with two surprises. This hit his heart hard. Tomlinson and his wife lost a child when she was pregnant in 2005 and they didn't know if they'd ever be able to get to the point again. So when she let him in on the secret she hid since last Tuesday, L.T. cried.

And then he called her.

"I just said, 'You're amazing. You're amazing,'" he repeated after his best game of the season.

That spurred something within Tomlinson that had been missing as the Chargers and L.T. struggled to live up to preseason expectations. He eventually went on the field and ran against one of the NFL's better defenses like he hadn't run all season. He finished with two touchdowns and 96 yards on a season-high 24 carries. The Chargers won their fourth straight game to improve to 6-3.